


Your Love Is Enough

by FairyTaleAdventures



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: A fic featuring a worried Neil, F/M, Solo surgery for Shaun, TW: Plane crash, but it does mention fatalities, nothing descriptive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-19 12:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22977931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyTaleAdventures/pseuds/FairyTaleAdventures
Summary: “Dr. Lim” Neil greeted as he approached the elevator where she was waiting patiently. “Going somewhere?” She was dressed in her usual business attire, but she had a carry on suitcase at her side.“Maryland” she responded, offering him a kind smile._Audrey is travelling for a work thing and when the residents find out about a plane crash on the same route she is suppose to be travelling on, Shaun struggles on whether or not to tell Neil about it before his solo surgery.
Relationships: Audrey Lim/Neil Melendez
Comments: 2
Kudos: 61





	Your Love Is Enough

“Dr. Lim” Neil greeted as he approached the elevator where she was waiting patiently. “Going somewhere?” She was dressed in her usual business attire, but she had a carry on suitcase at her side. 

“Maryland” she responded, offering him a kind smile. 

Since their recent breakup, things had been rocky between the two of them. Many of their recent conversations had been unpleasant as they attempted to relearn their new role as each other's friend. The tricky part was neither of them wanted to go back to being just friends. After many years of dancing around their romantic feelings for one another, watching each other pursue relationships with other people, which turned into them watching from afar as each other dealt with heartbreak, they eventually came to their senses and confessed their feelings for one another. 

They were happy when they were together. Life felt simpler, like no matter what happened in their daily lives, their problems would resolve itself out in the end. And if it didn’t, it didn’t really matter because they would come home to one another and know that they could lean on one another for support and love. While they were attempting to go back to being friendly coworkers, they often let their frustration of being unable to be anything more than that cloud their judgment. 

“Johns Hopkins is hosting their annual Surgery and Transplantation Conference this Thursday.”

“Panels consisting of far too many monotone men who spend most of their time trying to sell you things rather than educate.” Neil let out a disgruntled sound. “You hate that stuff.”

“Not to mention the terrible coffee” she added which gained her a laugh. She shrugged. “It’s the perks of the job.” 

As the elevator doors opened, Neil gestured for her to enter first. 

“Well on the bright side” Neil began as situated himself facing her for the short ride to the main floor. “I hear Baltimore has the best crab cakes.” Audrey laughed.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” 

When the elevator stopped on Audrey’s floor, the two of them stood staring at each other for a brief moment. Not wanting their conversation to come to an end, Neil contemplated leaving the elevator alongside her and walking her to her ride which would be waiting for her near the main entrance. Before he could make up his mind, they were interrupted by Dr. Murphy walking into the elevator. 

“Hello Dr. Lim, Dr. Melendez.” He acknowledged politely. 

“Dr. Murphy.” Audrey greeted. She glanced at Neil who looked clearly disappointed by the interruption which brought back that familiar tightening in her chest. She shook it off. “Good luck in your solo surgery today” she said turning her attention back to Shaun for a quick moment before grabbing the handle to her luggage. She offered Neil an affable smile, to which he returned, before she made her exit. “I’ll see you both when I get back.”

“Bye Dr. Lim” Neil called after her once she was halfway down the hall. “Travel safe and remember, crab cakes.” 

Even though her back was turned to him, he knew she was rolling her eyes. 

“So Murphy,” Neil started once the elevator doors had closed and Audrey was out of sight. “You ready for your first Cholecystectomy?”

“Oh yes. I have been practicing. ”

“Mrs. Jenkins is the perfect patient. You’ll do great.” 

As the elevator doors opened on Neils floor, he added. “I’ll see you in there in a couple hours.”

oOo

As lunch time approached, Shaun, Claire, and Morgan found themselves sitting in the hospital cafeteria discussing Shaun’s upcoming surgery which was to take place in an hour's time. With their often contrasting hours and busy schedules, it was rare that any of the residents were able to sit down and enjoy their lunch break together. Whenever they did get the chance to sit down with each other, they rarely talked about anything other than work. Their conversations typically consisted of them exchanging patient stories and conditions, while bouncing ideas off one another. 

Currently, Shaun was in the middle of describing his patients pre-op condition when Claire interrupted him. 

“Guys look” she pointed towards the television screen in the corner of the cafeteria. The scene on the television was showing what looked to be a plane crash. In the middle of the screen, there was a large passenger plane with thick grey clouds of smoke emerging from it. It was impossible to see the isolated wreckage due to the wide camera angle, but the hundreds of flashing lights emanating from the emergency vehicles indicated it was a serious incident. 

“Hey, someone turn up the volume” Claire shouted to no one in particular. When the sound on the screen increased, it began to catch the attention of the surrounding staff. Everyone in the cafeteria quieted down to listen in. 

“We are just receiving reports that flight number 680 taking off from San Jose to Baltimore early this morning has crashed just off the border of Colorado” the News Reporter on the screen informed. “From what we know so far, there have already been six confirmed fatalities with that number steadily rising. At this point in time, it is unclear what caused the aircraft to lose control, but we do know medical personnel are on scene and have taken action.” The screen once again shifted to show a closer view of the emergency vehicles and personnel.

“Wasn’t Dr. Lim flying to Baltimore this morning?” Claire asked. 

“Yes,” Shaun responded. “I saw her this morning as she was leaving for the airport.”

“Do you think she was on that flight?” 

No one answered. For a long moment, the three of them sat in silence, unsure of what to say. Morgan and Claire eventually made eye contact as they attempted to read each other's thoughts, each of them knowing the other was fearing the worst. 

Finally, Morgan broke the silence. “Well there is no point in freaking out until we know for sure. I mean how many flights take off from San Jose to Baltimore each day?”

“Approximately five” Shaun responded without hesitation. No one bothered to question him. 

“Right,” Morgan continued. “Which means it is totally plausible she was on a different flight.” 

The others considered this.

“Where is Dr. Melendez?” Claire asked. “If something did happen to Dr. Lim, he is going to want to know about it.”

“He is in surgery with Dr. Park” Shaun answered. “And then he will be the supervising attending in my solo surgery right after.”

“Well don’t tell him” Morgan advised.

“Why not?”

“Because if he finds out that Dr. Lim may have died, he will cancel your solo surgery this afternoon.”

“Wouldn’t that be morally wrong?” Claire asked.

“If you just found out the love of your life might be dead, wouldn’t you want to take the day off to mourn?”

Claire didn’t respond, stunned by Morgans bluntness. 

“You want me to lie,” Shaun stated.

“It’s not lying, it’s just withholding the truth for a couple hours so you get to do your surgery this afternoon.”

“Withholding the truth is the definition of lying.” Shaun corrected. “I’m no good at lying.”

Morgan stood up grabbing her empty tray and tucking in her chair. “You do what you want.” She said. “But if you want to perform a surgery today, I highly suggest you stay quiet.”

Shaun contemplated his options. “I’ll do my best to lie.”

oOo

Shaun spent the time he had before his scheduled surgery striving to continue his day as normal. He ran through the procedure once more before he visited his patient to address any last minute questions or concerns. He was pleased when Mrs. Jenkins nor any of her family members noticed anything off about his behaviour. Making his way into the scrub room, he was greeted by Claire who was already engrossed with washing her hands. He joined her, not mentioning anything about their lunchtime conversation. 

“Alright” Neil said as he arrived into the scrub room. Shaun noticed Neil seemed to be in a cheerful mood which meant he had not been made aware of the events on the news. Neil got busy dressing himself in the necessary attire before beginning his hand sanitising routine. “You ready Dr. Murphy?”

Shaun hesitated for a moment before responding. “Yes, I am ready.”

Neils eyebrows scrunched slightly at Shaun’s off-putting demeanour. 

“You feeling okay?” 

Shaun glanced at Claire who gave him an indicative glare. “Yes, I feel great.”

“Don’t worry Murphy,” Neil began as he turned off the facet and dried his hands. “This is a simple procedure which you have assisted on many times. There are no distractions.” Shaun eye’s flickered to Claires once again at his choice of words, but the action went unnoticed by Neil. “You’ve got this.”

“Right” Shaun responded. “No distractions.”

“Alright then,” Neil made way for the main door. “Let’s get in there.”

Neil went in first to confirm the room was set up appropriately in a way that was propitious, but unlikely to cause Shaun any unnecessary stressors. Once pleased with what he saw, he got himself situated in the corner of the room where he would stand in the background to watch the procedure and provide any assistance if necessary. 

Offering Shaun a reassuring look, Claire entered next, positioning herself at Mrs. Jenkins side where she would be assisting Shaun during his solo surgery. The patient was laying on her back, body prepped, already under the effects of anaesthesia. 

Taking a deep breath, Shaun entered through the sliding glass door. A scrub nurse was waiting for him with a pair of latex gloves in hand and Shaun put out his hands so she could properly place them. Once ready, he took in his surroundings before announcing: “My name is Dr. Shaun Murphy and I am the lead surgeon on Mrs. Jenkins Cholecystectomy. Dr. Claire Browne will be my assistant today.” He walked up to his patient. 

“Knife please.”

Once handed the knife, Shaun stepped up to Mrs. Jenkins. Steadily, he lowered the instrument to the upper right section of her abdomen, but before the knife made contact with her skin, Shaun paused. 

After a long second without any movement, Claire spoke. “Shaun?” 

Shaun made eye contact with her. Immediately, Claire was able to understand Shaun's hesitation. After spending a countless number of hours together, Claire had gotten pretty good at understanding Shaun and recognising his expressions. She shook her head slightly to warn him not to go through with it, but he ignored her. 

Putting down the knife, Shaun glanced in Neil’s direction. 

“Dr. Murphy?” Neil questioned. When Shaun didn’t respond, he tried again, this time with a little more force. “Dr. Murphy, is there a problem?”

“There was a plane crash this morning.” Shaun began. He heard Claire whisper his name but he once again ignored her. “The plane that crashed was on route from San Jose to Baltimore. There were many fatalities. It is possible that Dr. Lim was on that flight.”

For a moment there was silence throughout the room. The only thing that could be heard were the sounds coming from the medical machines being used to keep the patient stable. 

Everyone in the room turned to look at Neil who had a look of confusion on his face. It was common knowledge that Neil and Audrey were close. While the two of them were typically pretty private when it came to their personal lives, it was no secret that they had feelings for one another. After the couples grand display of affection in the Emergency Room, it didn’t take long for word to spread around the hospital. To most of the senior staff, it came as no surprise. Most employees had encountered Neil and Audrey’s budding romantic relationship at some point or another. Whether this be watching the two of them compete for surgeries, witnessing how they would naturally bounce ideas off one another as if they were reading each other's minds, or observing how they would comfort one another during a time of loss, there was always something more to their professional relationship. To them, it was just a long time coming. 

Shaun broke the silence. “Knife please.” 

After a moment of hesitation, a scrub nurse handed him a new knife and Shaun once again got prepared to make an incision.

“Wait” Neil interrupted. “Just wait.” He took a slight step forward, then stopped, unable to trust his body in this situation. After taking a moment to contemplate, he asked. “Is it true?” No one answered, but the way everyone in the room avoided his eyes, his worst fears were confirmed. “Is it true?” He asked again. 

“We watched it on the news this morning” Claire finally answered. There was a flight that took off from San Jose on the way to Baltimore that crashed off the border of Colorado.” After watching his face fall, she added. “This doesn’t mean it was Dr. Lim's flight. We have no way of knowing.”

Again, the room fell silent. 

Neil took another moment to absorb the new information he had just received. His heart was pounding rapidly in his chest as the sounds of the medical equipment around him faded into a loud ringing in his ears. While he wanted to be optimistic, his mind could not stop considering the worst possible scenario. 

“Can someone please try calling Dr. Lim?” He finally said. One of the scrub nurses who had been a forefront witness to Neil and Audrey’s relationship over the years offered without any hesitation. She unscrubbed herself from the operating room to grab her phone. What took no longer than two minutes felt like a lifetime to Neil as we waited patiently for an update. 

Dialling her number from the scrub room, the nurse pressed the phone to her ear. “It went straight to voicemail.”

Again, all eyes fell on Neil to observe his reaction. He stood expressionless as he contemplated his next steps. Finally, his eyes made contact with the patient lying on the table. She was trusting them with her life. Morally, he could not walk out of this room. He had an obligation to his patient, as well as her loved ones, to make sure she made it out of the operating room alive and well. His only option was to move his fears to the back of his mind for the next two hours and give the patient his full undivided attention. While he was certain it would be painful, he was a professional who was trained for unforeseen circumstances like this.

“Proceed with the surgery, Dr. Murphy.” He finally said.

“Dr. Melendez,” Claire spoke cautiously. “Are you sure you -.”

“Proceed with the surgery."

Claire turned her attention back to Shaun. After the two shared a brief look, Shaun asked for the knife once more.

oOo

No more than an hour and a half later, after a flawless procedure, Shaun announced that he had made the final stitch and the surgery was complete. 

To the surprise of no one, Neil walked out of the operating room without a word.

Once back in the privacy of his office, Neil didn’t bother changing out of his scrubs. Immediately grabbing the phone off his desk, he wasted no time calling the all too familiar number. He learned early on in their friendship that Audrey was not much of a texter. He could recall numerous times he had sent her a text only to receive a response two days later or not at all. It took him no time at all to get into the habit of calling her whenever he wanted to make contact with her. 

Letting out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding, he pressed the phone up to his ear. The phone rang once before he received Audrey’s voicemail.

“Hey, it’s Audrey. You know what to do.” 

He didn’t bother leaving a message. Hopeful she had just temporarily been away from her device, he hit the redial icon and pressed the phone up to his ear once more. Similarly to his first attempt, he got her voicemail. Neil cursed and pressed the call button again, eliciting the same response. 

Defeated, he pulled out the chair to his desk and turned on his computer. Closing all previous tabs regarding research he originally had opened, he typed in words related to the plane crash. Clicking on the first news article that appeared, his eyes began darting rapidly across the page. Details regarding the cause of the crash was scarce, but the article did mention that the front of the plane suffered the worst damage. 

Unconsciously, Neil reached for his phone once more, but unsurprisingly, was met with the same response of her voicemail. 

“Damn it Audrey” he tossed his phone on the desk. “Answer your damn phone.”

Focusing his attention back to his computer, he scrolled through another news article searching for anything regarding the death count. To his relief, he discovered the death count was relatively low, with most passengers able to make it out to safety. This gave her good odds. However, as he read further, he learned that there were still many in critical condition. This perked his interest. 

Audrey was strong. This he was more than well aware of. But her immune system had been weakened due to the virus outbreak that previous Christmas. While she liked to think she had fully regained function of her immune system, Neil knew better. One of their biggest arguments back when they were a couple involved him condemning Audrey due to her need to take unnecessary risks that involved putting her respiratory system in compromising positions. Her perseverance was something he always loved about her. It’s what made her such a great surgeon. But sometimes she would take things a step too far which made him fear he would one day end up losing her. 

And yet here he was once again, waiting patiently for information regarding her life. 

Pushing the mouse away from him, he stood up and began pacing back and forth around his office. Neil mentally chastised himself. He didn’t even know if she had been a passenger on this flight and here he was expecting the worst. 

He finally took a seat on the couch in his office and began dialling her number once again. This time, he fully expected to receive her voicemail and didn’t flinch when he heard the familiar tone of her voicemail. He waited for the beep. 

Taking a deep breath, he composed himself before saying. “Hey Audrey it’s me. I saw the plane crash on the news.” His voice faltered unsure of what to say next. “Just please call me back as soon as you get this.” He felt his throat tighten, but added: “I just need to know you're alright.”

Once he hung up, he threw his phone against the couch cushions where it bounced off the arm and landed safely on the floor, face down. Resting his elbows on his thighs, he placed his head in his hands and took a deep breath. It wasn’t even seven yet and he was already exhausted. Kicking off his shoes which were still covered in surgical scrubs, he laid down on the couch. Placing a pillow behind his head, he tried to imagine all possible scenarios as to why Audrey was not answering her phone, but he didn’t make it past the third scenario before he fell into a troubled slumber.

oOo

No more than an hour later, Neil was startled awake by the loud ringing of his cell phone. Blinking rapidly, it took him a second to realise where he was.

Once remembering why he was in his office, he scrambled to pick up his phone off the ground by his feet. Flipping it over, his heart hammered in his chest as he saw a photo of Audrey and himself taken back during their residency days displayed on the screen. Taking a second to mentally prepare himself, he pressed the answer button and held the phone up to his ear. 

“Hello?”

“Neil, hi.” It was Audrey. 

Neil felt all the tension he had been holding in his body from the events of the day automatically dissipate. Letting out a relieved sigh, her name escaped his lips just loud enough for her to hear on the other end. 

“I got your message” she continued. “I called as soon as I could.”

“I thought I lost you” was all he could say. “Again”

“I’m so sorry” was her response. “I didn’t mean-“

“I’m not mad,” he interrupted. “I’m just so glad you're okay.” 

“I wasn’t on the plane that crashed. But my flight was delayed because of it and we had to take an alternate route.” A pause. “It’s been one hell of a day.”

“Tell me about it,” Neil agreed. They fell into silence. 

“I love you” he finally said. He heard her gasp before he continued. “And I know it’s unfair of me to tell you this now but -“

“Neil” she began softly, cutting him off. “Of course I love you too.”

He smiled. 

“Will you pick me up at the airport when I come back?”

“I’d be happy to.”

The fate of their relationship was still unclear. She was still his boss and they still needed to learn how to work with one another to provide the best patient care in a professional environment. It would be a challenge, this they knew, but it was a challenge they were both willing to face. Because all that mattered in the end was that they were in love and wanted to fight to make their relationship work. And that was enough.


End file.
